Western Grocer Serving the industry since 1916
According to a recent report from Yahoo Finance, rising grocery costs continue to outpace broader inflation in Canada, leaving consumers scrambling to adapt their budget habits.
Statistics Canada’s most recent report found prices for food bought in stores rose 3.1% in July compared with a year earlier, even as overall inflation sat at 3%, making it the 18th straight month that grocery prices climbed faster than the broader Consumer Price Index.
The frustration lines up with what Canadians are expressing online. “Grocery prices are still outstripping general inflation. What are you cutting back on?” a recent post on Reddit’s Canadian personal finance forum asked, drawing replies about switching stores, cutting meat from the weekly list and one shopper who said he’d started doing the math on tomatoes and feta by the gram just to keep a homemade salad affordable.
For many households, adjusting has become a deliberate habit: Comparing prices before every trip, switching to store brands and being pickier about what goes in the cart. A recent survey found 96% of respondents believed their grocery bills had increased over the past year, and 7 in 10 said they’d changed their shopping habits in response.
Canadians aren’t abandoning their regular grocery store, though — they’re spreading their spending across more of them.
